Back in the 1980s, Lenny Dykstra and Wally Backman ignited the high-flying New York Mets as the 1-2 punch at the top of the batting order. They were fan favorites, nicknamed the Partners in Grime for a hard-nosed style of play that resulted more often than not in soiled uniforms and winning games.

Thirty years later, neither is flying as high, with Dykstra's latest arrest drawing both compassion and a reflective warning from Backman.

"It hurts to see what's happened to him," Backman told Sporting News. "We were really close friends, but it is kind of painful to see what's happened to him physically, mentally."

Dykstra was arrested in the wee hours of the morning on June 5 in New Jersey after allegedly putting a bag to the head of an Uber driver and saying, "I'll blow your (expletive) head off." He was charged with third-degree making terroristic threats, third-degree charges for possession of cocaine and MDMA and disorderly persons charges for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

After the arrest, Dykstra and his lawyer went on the offensive, turning the tables on the driver while making a case that the former All-Star center fielder was the victim.

"It's like, 'Not again.' That's what I feel on this last thing that happened," said Backman, who spent 14 years as a big-league second baseman and who now is the first-year manager of the New Britain (Conn.) Bees in the independent Atlantic League.

"I don’t know the facts of the whole thing, though I’ve seen what his lawyer said. But just the fact that he’s put himself in this situation so many times, it’s time to, I don’t know, grow up, do the right thing."

Dykstra's rap sheet is a long one, including time spent in prison for grand theft auto and providing false financial statements. Previously, he also filed for bankruptcy, was charged with sexual assault and indecent exposure on separate occasions and has been linked to street drugs and steroids.

It is Dykstra's admitted use of steroids — along with an over-the-top-personality — that Backman believes helped land his ex-teammate in trouble time and again.

"It's an example people should understand, that's what that s— can do to you," Backman said of steroid use. "With Lenny, it's what he did to his body with the steroids. It made him a better player . . . I don't agree with it . . . but when Lenny does something, it's full bore, there's no halfway. If he does it, he does it all the way.

"Honestly, the thing with Lenny, it’s what he did as a player to his body with the steroids. It wasn’t illegal back then, but obviously, he's a perfect example of the side effects of what can happen. What he did on the field, the way he played the game, he played hard, but that’s the example of what can happen to you if you use."

Backman admits he was "no choirboy" during his playing days with the Mets and four other teams, and that things were, well, different in the 1980s. Not better, necessarily, just different.

"We hit the streets hard when I played, but there’s a fine line in going beyond that, and Lenny was max at everything he did. He did everything full bore," said Backman, who is godfather to Dykstra's eldest son, Cutter. "I didn't agree with some of the things that happened.

"It was a different era. We weren’t the only team that partied the way that we partied. We were in New York City where the media was and we were the ones that were magnified because there were a lot of cities we'd go out to and we’d end up partying with other players on other teams. It wasn't just the New York Mets. We were in (the) sports media capital of the world in New York and we didn't care. We did what we wanted to, but the one thing we did was when we went on the field it was all business."

Backman, who is in his 20th season as a minor-league manager, had his issues after his playing days, as well, including a 2000 domestic dispute that came to light several years later in a New York Times article, which caused him to lose his job as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks just four days after being hired in 2004. Though he spent seven years managing in the minor leagues for the Mets from 2010-16, another affiliated job, in particular one in the major leagues, has not emerged for Backman.

"It was some good times, you know?" Backman told Sporting News. "But to see the things that happened, I can say it's all bittersweet."